Are you thinking what we're thinking?

"If people are being made unemployed, the question of immigration becomes extremely thorny . . . It’s been too easy to get into this country in the past and it’s going to get harder."

No - not Michael Howard's 2005 General Election manifesto pledge, but a quote from Phil Woolas the new immigration minister in an interview with the Times.

In a seeming change of policy on this issue, the minister suggested that limits are to be imposed on immigration to prevent immigrants from competing for jobs with existing residents. The Government had already announced its new points system, based on the Australian model, which seeks to permit entry only to immigrants with particular skills that the economy needs, although at the time, it did not go as far as to suggest that there was an actual cap on immigrant numbers.

However, Woolas offered "This Government isn’t going to allow the population to go up to 70 million. There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving."

The Conservative's position has been fairly clear for sometime. An annual limit dependent upon economic necessity. Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, has responded by saying that "We have an extra large pool of labour in this country who are not working, it's actually a national scandal, and who out to be brought into employment through welfare reform... These islands do have a finite capacity and as population increases so quality of life will be diminished... People complain that the Underground is too crowded and there are now 800,000 more people living in London than there were ten years ago."

Frank Field, the Labour MP for Birkenhead, has for a long time been warning of the sustainability of the levels of migration into the UK. He today welcomed the Government's change of policy, saying "There is much rejoicing in heaven for one sinner that repents and the government is repenting"

At last there seems to be some consensus that UK plc cannot absorb ever increasing numbers of people, straining public services and putting pressure on housing availability.

Immigration impacts much more strongly on the poorer members of society. While immigration has been a short-term benefit to the economy, it has done little to help the long-term unemployed. Companies take the easy option and recruit overseas rather than training potential employees who are already here in need of work.

Ken Livingstone famously said "Up until last year, I was able to say that in my entire time as mayor I had never been served coffee by an English person in a Costa or Starbucks or anywhere, and yet these are all jobs that presumably anyone who’s out of work could have got"

So why couldn't some of the 11.7% of persons unemployed in Tower Hamlets have gone for one of these jobs? How much do Pret a Manger pay? Between £7 and £8 an hour, so markedly above the minimum wage. The Government have failed to address the issues of unemployment by making it too fruitful to be on benefits, and filled the gaps in the employment market with their open-door policy.